Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I hope that everyone ate to their hearts content, laughed until their bellies hurt, and just enjoyed the holiday.  I know I did all of those things, and I'm still trying to figure out how to breathe with my abdomen being taken over by a nearly 2 lb baby.  It makes it really hard to gorge myself, which was slightly disappointing.  But, probably better for me in the long run.

We spent the day up north at John's parents house, my dad came in from Dayton, and we had a great time.  This time my dad used flour instead of powdered sugar for the gravy (oops!), John smoked a ham, Pat cooked a turkey, and we had all the regular fixing's and it was fantastic!  We all laughed and shared stories, exactly what I envision the holiday to be.  I can't even imagine what our next year will be like with our little guy being a part of it.  And if he's anything like JuliAnna's little boy, he'll be walking (!!!) or if he's anything like me, he'll will have no interest in walking whatsoever. 

On more baby related news, we have been working on the nursery transformation.  We decided to get rid of the green walls (which I have disliked since we moved in) and really get going on it.  It was quite the process as I'm a little bit of a mini-hoarder.  But we managed to box everything up, take the shelves off the wall, and get crackin'.  Actually, John did pretty much all of it.  He took the week off and spent it going up and down ladders and inhaling paint.  It was quite the success in the end.  He did a wonderful job.  We picked a gray color that is nearly the same color as the rest of the house, on accident, but I think it will go great as a backdrop for all of the things we have going in to the room. 

The other day we were listening to the radio, and the people were talking about "how you know when your guy is ready for a baby'... and most of the answers were the standard "he's noticing babies.... he wants to hold a baby...".  I realized mine this last week.  I realized how ready John was for our little guy when he started becoming a little bit crazed with house projects.  He has been a man on a mission.  We got a new faucet for our kitchen, we painted the nursery, we started looking at vanities for our bathrooms, and started talking about all the things that we want to get done in the next four months.  I wish I had realized all of these things before, I might have pushed or this baby thing a little earlier so that our house could have been in a much different level of completeness! 

I have promised pictures for a while now, and I would hate to disappoint, so below are some pictures of the room:

 Cleanest this floor has looked for as long as we've been here.  This wall is where we will have the crib, the non-window wall.

 The wall without the window will have the shelves on it, as well as the dresser/changing table.

 Now the doors to the closet need to be painted - they used to be the best looking thing in the room, now they look terrible!

Oh yeah, I look awesome.  Haha.

I'm excited to start getting all the pieces put together and really get everything going.  Crib is on the horizon, possibly stroller, and I'm still trolling craigslist looking for the perfect mid-century wooden dresser.  I've already gotten a Paddington Bear and an orange corduroy aardvark, and we have a stash of things from my Aunt Kelly and John's family... So we are getting there.  And we are getting excited about everything -- if only I could figure out what my maternity policy will be so that I can start getting prepared for that.  One day.... one day.

How's pregnancy treating me you might ask?  Well, so far it's been going exceptionally well.  My doctor says I'm looking good, I'm passing all my "tests", my glucose levels are ridiculously normal, my questions are pretty mundane, and I'm feeling great.  I'm having some serious problems in my left hip, a hip that hurt before and now seems like it's just kind of falling apart.  But the good news is that  I start PT this week to try and help me loosen it up.  As long as it helps me so that I can walk by the end of this pregnancy, then I think it will be a win for me.  I'm looking forward to that for sure.  

Oh fun fact - I finally was able to feel him move!  Now, I don't get to feel him very often, but it was pretty exciting to feel him really start moving.  I was starting to get really nervous, I had asked my doctor about it and she wasn't worried at all.  She said it could still be too early, and it would be intermittent.  But that Sunday after my appointment I was woken up by this crazy feeling in my belly.  I started pressing my hands and I could actually feel him on the outside moving around as well.  It was pretty fantastic, not going to lie.  But of course, it's like 9am and John is still not quite up yet.  I whispered at him to see if he was awake yet (he wasn't) so then I just laid there and hoped that John would wake up before the little guy decided to stop moving around.  Luckily, not too long after John rolled towards me and I was able to get him to put his hand and he actually was able to feel it too.  It was pretty awesome.  Not going to lie.  Since then, it's been really sporadic, but I like being able to feel it every once in a while.  He moved around a little bit after lunch/dinner tonight, so I was feeling pretty confident that he must be my kid if he's excited about Thanksgiving food.   Ha.

I wish I had more to say -- other than the stomach skin feeling like an Indian rug burn, it's been "easy" and I feel so incredibly lucky.  I'm hoping that there are no more all-nighters in my future (I still don't think I've recovered from that), and much more rest and relaxation.  John has been fantastic, and he gets me water and cooks dinner and does dishes... many of those things he did before, but he does them in a much happier way than he used to.  Ha.  

Without further ado - here are my latest pictures... I finally broke down and bought maternity pants and clothes.  I have to say, why on EARTH don't we just live in elastic pants?  They are amazing!  I didn't realize what I was missing, and I'm sad that I am waiting until nearly my 3rd trimester to get started with them.  I now essentially wear comfy pants all day long.  I heart pregnancy.  :)

(Oh yeah, and next Friday -- not tomorrow Friday -- is the start of my third trimester.... holy crap balls)

 Week 23:  The Peaceful Papaya (still not moving... still waiting)

 Week 24: The Erratic Ear of Corn (just felt movement!!)

Week 25:  The Effervescent Eggplant (still kickin')

I waited a little long to take the picture this week, but at least I managed to get it in before the next week rolls in.  Here's to my last week of the 2nd trimester!  Hopefully it goes as well as the others have been so far.  Looking forward to the final stage, and riding out the rest of this crazy journey.